New Film Series: The Mexican Revolution Films of the 70s

Did you know that 2010 marks both the 200th anniversary of Mexico's independence and the 100th anniversary of its Revolution? I didn't until this year's Cine Las Americas International Film Festival.

To celebrate the dual anniversary, Cine Las Americas is programming related free movies and Mexican films in general for the rest of the year, starting with a four-film series co-presented by the Harry Ransom Center.

"The Mexican Revolution Films of the 70s" includes four rare features by influential directors that explorethe Mexican Revolution and other national realities from a period of unprecedented latitude. Here are the four films and the descriptions from the Cine Las Americas website:

El prinicipio (The Beginning), directed by Gonzalo Martínez Ortega. "Mexico is in the midst of Revolution when the protagonist returns after studying in Paris to find his native town in Chihuahua occupied by Francisco Villa’s revolutionary forces. He visits his deserted home and remembers people and events from his adolescence that provide glimpses of pre-Revolutionary society under dictatorship." (May 6)

Cananea, directed by Marcela Fernández Violante. "Colonel William Greene, in an expedition across the Sonoran desert, stumbles upon large copper reserves. Almost immediately he decides to set up mines and he quickly becomes one of the wealthiest men in the region. His ambition, however, leads him to mistreat and exploit the men working in the mines." (May 13)

La casta divina (The Divine Caste), directed by Julián Pastor. "A chronicle of the 'caste wars' that took place in Yucatan during the nineteenth century, where the land and the people were the property of the hacendados (landowners and masters), who considered themselves the 'divine race.'" (May 20)

Cuartelazo (Mutiny), directed by Alberto Isaac. "Cuartelazo re-creates one of the most violent episodes of Mexico's history, ignited by General Victoriano Huerta’s mandate to assasinate president Francisco Madero. Belisario Domínguez, a doctor and an alternate senator from Chiapas, is elevated to the senate after the death of Madero, and Victoriano Huerta seizes control of the government from Madero, who is arrested and later murdered." (5/27).

All films are free and in Spanish with English subtitles The series takes place every Thursday night at 7 pm throughout May in the Charles Nelson Prothro Theater at the Harry Ransom Center.